Pawan Hans helicopter crashes, 17 dead

UPDATED  19/4/2011 3:48:07 PM  

News 24 Desk

Itanagar/Shillong:

A Pawan Hans helicopter on Tuesday with 23 people on board crashes into a gorge in Tawang town of Arunachal Pradesh. According to information, at least 17 persons including three crew staff were killed in the terrified incident. While six were rescued. Sources in the civil aviation ministry claimed that the chopper caught fire in the air and later fell down.

The Pawan Hans Mi17 chopper was flying to Tawang from the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati and had taken off at 1245 hours, agency sources said.

Pilots Captain Varun Gupta and Captain AK Tiwari were scheduled to land at the Tawang Civil helipad at 1320 hours. It caught fire, broke into pieces and crashed into a gorge close to the helipad at around 1357 hours, the sources said.

While 17 persons on board were killed, two crew members and four passengers survived with grievous injuries, Tawang Deputy Commissioner Gamlin Padu said.

The injured were rushed to the civil hospital at Tawang and would be air-lifted to Guwahati tomorrow, the DC said. (PTI)